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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cleaner took 6 hours to half to two rooms

17 replies

minmoo2 · 19/09/2023 20:41

I recently got a new cleaner who is a wonderful person and I feel very comfortable with (a big thing for me to have someone in my home) I have a 3 bed house and abated all rooms dusted, blinds cleaned, hoovering , mopping, downstairs loo done etc - the whole place basically. They helped clean the kitchen and rearranged the set up etc which was a great help, but didn’t mop the floor, and they cleaned all windows in the conservatory too which looks great, and they hoovered the house, however that’s it…and they were in the place for 6 hours!! 😱 no cleaning of the bathroom or toilet, no dusting in living or any other room or anything. I’m actually a bit baffled! Anyway it’s £19 N hour so it’s nearly £120 for a kitchen clean and hoover!! I hate confrontation and don’t want animosity but I can’t pay that when I’m going to have to do all the actual ‘cleaning’ now myself and the reason I got cleaner is a simply have no time with a hectic work schedule. How would you approach this? I don’t want to refuse to pay and then have someone banging my door down for money etc- help!!!

OP posts:
cpphelp · 19/09/2023 20:45

We had a cleaner a few years ago who on her first visit deep cleaned the kitchen - cupboards, oven, fridge - and it took her the whole 3 hours.

I'll admit I was disappointed, but she basically used the first 2-3 weeks getting my house up to a 'normal standard' and then every week did the whole lot, skirting boards, windows, all rooms and oven included.

I'd give her a couple of weeks if I were you

Thewizardbinbag · 19/09/2023 20:48

Did she deep clean the kitchen to get it up to a standard where she can just do the maintenance clean every week, alongside the rest of the house?

TakeMe2Insanity · 19/09/2023 20:51

Cleaners claim they do a deep clean first, but I’ve found they never tell you this beforehand so you don’t get a sense of having a clean house.

Original poster
minmoo2 · 19/09/2023 21:03

So a sort of deep clean, but not inside cupboards, fridge or oven, and it’s not a big kitchen and even if the oven was done (I’ve had professional oven cleaners before) it would no way take 6 hours- it’s quite a small kitchen! So surfaces, wiping doors but no mopping of floor. I don’t understand how it took 6 hours and not even a quick wipe of other surfaces in the house. £120 to clean a small kitchen seems extreme

OP posts:
ltappleby · 19/09/2023 21:13

I think that’s unacceptable really - a ridiculous charge for the outcome achieved. I would expect the whole house sparkling clean after 6 hours - you need a new cleaner

Original poster
minmoo2 · 19/09/2023 21:15

How would you raise it? I would too! I would say 4 hours for the whole house to be sparkling, they didn’t even get upstairs! I feel gutted

OP posts:
Sunsetred · 19/09/2023 21:22

I wouldn't be happy with that in the slightest. I have a two bed house and my cleaner can clean the entire house properly in 2 hours. She even does an extra thing each week so this week she re-organised the drawer with the utensils. I would message her and say you're sorry to see that she did not clean the entire house as agreed and ask her if there was a reason why given the time she is claiming for cleaning. Good cleaners are like gold dust!

ltappleby · 19/09/2023 21:24

I’d say I was very disappointed in their work and ask them why they’d done so little in that length of time. I don’t think there’s any point in being embarrassed about expecting the cleaner to have cleaned. I wouldn’t want them to come back.

Original poster
minmoo2 · 19/09/2023 21:27

Sunsetred · 19/09/2023 21:22

I wouldn't be happy with that in the slightest. I have a two bed house and my cleaner can clean the entire house properly in 2 hours. She even does an extra thing each week so this week she re-organised the drawer with the utensils. I would message her and say you're sorry to see that she did not clean the entire house as agreed and ask her if there was a reason why given the time she is claiming for cleaning. Good cleaners are like gold dust!

would you just pay it and be done and move on? It’s a lot of money and not what I was expecting even for a full house clean tbh! I originally said I wanted 3-4 hours for the full house

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 19/09/2023 21:34

£19 an hour is very expensive for a cleaner
6 hours is far too long for a 3 bedroom house.

Presumably you spoke in advance and knew the hourly rate? It sounds like you gave her the instruction to carry out the clean but no limit on the amount of time you wanted her to stay.

a better conversation would have been "what can you do in 3 hours?" to at least have some agreement in advance what the cleaner would focus on and to keep some sort of budget. Otherwise it's just open ended and they had no real focus on the priorities. You could have reviewed after 2 hours to see how she was getting on and decide what to focus on for the remaining hour.

daisychain01 · 19/09/2023 21:36

If you original expressed the limit of 3-4 hours, you should have held her to that. Did you highlight to her after 3.5 hours that it was nearly time for her to finish. Sometimes people prefer to have precise instructions from the client or they just keep going.

Sunsetred · 19/09/2023 21:42

@minmoo2 see how she responds when you point out that she did not finish cleaning all the rooms and that it took longer than the 3 or 4 hours agreed. Unless there is some misunderstanding then I'm not sure what she will be able to say that will make charging six hours for cleaning a 3 bed home acceptable, even if it was all done. I would tell her that you are not very happy that she did not finish all the cleaning but you will still pay her for 3-4 hours agreed (whatever was agreed) and then don't ask her to ever clean your house again!

Sunsetred · 19/09/2023 21:47

@minmoo2 I'm assuming you weren't at home while she was cleaning otherwise surely you would have queried after 4 hours what she was still doing there? If you were home then I think you will just have to complain that she didn't clean everywhere and see how she responds but ultimately pay her the full amount. She might offer to return without additional charge. If

Mistressanne · 19/09/2023 22:00

Gosh. We had a deep clean after evicting tenants.
The place was grim.
Two cleaners for 4 hours.
They did the whole 4 bed house including oven, windows and skirtings and it cost £160.

Scienceadvisory · 19/09/2023 22:04

What do you mean by she helped rearrange the kitchen? That's not a cleaning job and can keep someone busy for hours.

Switcher · 19/09/2023 22:06

Pay her for what was agreed and tell her you were looking for a rather different result and you will try someone else. It's a bit shit.

stickypoint · 19/09/2023 22:06

I pay 16/17 per hr and for that I get utility, 1 shower and 1 WC, kitchen, living and dining room done as well as hallway. That's in 3 hrs and its a medium sized kitchen. When she does 5 hrs the extra 2 go on the 2 bedrooms upstairs and the family bath. I'd be very unhappy with what you've described for a first time outing esp 2-3 hrs over!

I'd tell her hour expectations weren't met - I'd pay and chalk it up to experience as I normally watch how a new cleaner cracks on the first time.

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